The theater cost over one million dollars to build, a staggering sum in 1926, and every dollar showed. Nearly 3,000 lacquered red and gold seats faced a proscenium arch decorated with imperial dragons and flanked by blue velvet panels, each twenty by eight feet, embroidered with scenes from Chinese legends. The color palette ran through red, orange, jade, black, and silver. Female ushers wore Mandarin costumes designed by silent film star Vilma Banky, and box office staff were reportedly scheduled by hair color to create visual harmony during different shifts. The theater pioneered technical innovations too: built-in aisle-seat lamps, a ventilation system disguised by decorative mushroom-covered ducts, twenty individual dressing rooms beneath the stage, and a ticket system that transmitted sales directly to the manager's office. Reamer, best known for designing the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone, created something entirely different here -- a space where the Pacific Northwest reached across the ocean and borrowed splendor from the East.

By 1978, the 5th Avenue Theatre went dark. The building sat empty, its ornate interior gathering dust while developers eyed the downtown real estate. But Seattle had already fought one demolition battle -- Pike Place Market had been saved by voter initiative in 1971 -- and the city was not ready to lose another landmark. A coalition of local companies and arts patrons raised $2.6 million to restore the theater, and it reopened to the public in June 1980. The rescue was more than cosmetic. The original marble, crown molding, window framing, and wood pillars of the Skinner Building that houses the theater were all preserved. In 1989, the 5th Avenue Theatre Association was formed with a new mission: not just to host touring shows, but to produce original musicals.

The decision to produce original work transformed the 5th Avenue into something rare -- a regional theater that Broadway producers trust with their biggest gambles. Jekyll & Hyde played here in 1995 before earning four Tony Award nominations. Hairspray debuted at the 5th in 2002 and went on to win eight Tony Awards; when the film adaptation premiered in 2007, the producers chose the 5th Avenue for the screening, four days before the nationwide release, as acknowledgment of the theater's role in the show's success. Shrek the Musical, A Christmas Story: The Musical, and Disney's Aladdin all had their world premieres on this stage before moving to Broadway. First Date, which premiered here as a co-production with ACT Theatre, went on to star Zachary Levi and Krysta Rodriguez on Broadway. Not every bet paid off -- Princesses in 2005 and Lone Star Love in 2007 were both scheduled for Broadway but folded after poor reviews -- but the willingness to take risks on untested work has made the 5th Avenue a genuine creative engine rather than just a receiving house for touring productions.

The 5th Avenue's ambitions extend well beyond its auditorium. The theater's education and outreach programs reach over 61,000 students, professional performers, and audience members each year. The 5th Avenue High School Musical Theatre Awards evaluate and honor student actors and stage hands across Washington state high school productions, culminating in a Tony Awards-style ceremony with high-profile presenters and acceptance speeches. The event has become a scouting ground for college drama departments looking to recruit talent. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the theater stands on Fifth Avenue between Union and University Streets in downtown Seattle, its Chinese-inspired facade an unlikely counterpoint to the glass towers that have risen around it over the past century. Inside, the five-toed dragon still guards the ceiling, and the Pearl of Perfection still catches the light.